Kravitz Column: Kentucky can win it all

As Aaron Harrison backpedaled down the court after The Shot - or so it will be called in Lexington from now through eternity - he flashed a wry, self-satisfied smile. It was a smile that said, "What? Of course it went in. You expected something else?''

How deep was it? Twenty four feet? Twenty five feet? Look at the photo of the shot: Michigan defender Caris LeVert's hand was virtually high-fiving Harrison's shooting hand.

"He touched my hand a little bit, actually,'' Harrison said after his shot gave Kentucky a 75-72 Midwest Regional Final victory at Lucas Oil Stadium, sending the Cats to the Final Four.

Teammate Julius Randle smiled.

"When he made that shot, I mean, it was just ridiculous,'' he said. "On that stage, in that atmosphere, that game, to make that shot to send us to the Final Four, it was just amazing.''

Kentucky coach John Calipari turned to Harrison as they sat at the interview podium.

"He's not afraid to miss,'' Calipari said. "That's the whole thing about making those kinds of plays. You can't be afraid to miss. 'If I do miss, I'm making the next one, and I will shoot the next one.' That's where he is at right now.''

This was Aaron Harrison's and Kentucky's forever moment, one that will be etched in the consciousness of the Big Blue Nation for time immemorial. Just like the Christian Laettner shot for Duke, or the Keith Smart shot for IU to win the 1987 title. Twenty, 30 years from now, they will be talking about The Shot. Except in Ann Arbor, Mich., that is.

Harrison's basketball heroics were merely an exclamation point on a taut and beautiful game that neither Kentucky nor Michigan deserved to lose.

Can we just add a fifth team to the Final Four? No?

"We don't know if it was another classic kind of game, but I'll tell you this: They weren't going to go away and neither were we,'' Calipari said. "And whoever had the ball last was going to win it.''

Down the stretch, in particular, it was a symphony of clutch-shot making, Harrison here, Michigan's Glenn Robinson there, then Harrison again and Robinson again. This was the game of the NCAA tournament, bypassing even the epic Kentucky-Wichita State game.

So now Kentucky, survivors of the Midwest Region of Doom, heads to the North Texas Final Four as the most dangerous and compelling team remaining. It navigated the most grueling region of the tournament, knocking off unbeaten Wichita State, defending national champions Louisville and now national-finals runner-up Michigan. A 1 seed, a 2 and a 4 seed. Remarkable.

This stage was not too big for all the freshmen - Kentucky played seven of them Sunday - and there's every reason to believe they will handle the biggest stage of all down in Dallas. What's to stop them now? They don't have a scintilla of fear, these young men who, just one year ago, were trying to find a date for senior prom. It's a testament to them that they made it this far, and it's a testament to Calipari, who must remake and rebuild his team virtually every season with a new cast of one- and two-and-done players.

"I started reading what everybody was writing, and I'm thinking, 'This is going to be easy,' " Calipari said of all the preseason predictions the Cats would tear up college basketball. "This was very difficult for all of us. It was difficult because my choice coaching them was to allow them the body language, the effort less than it needed to be, the focus less than it needed to be, at times selfishness. And now I became a little mean because we had to get it changed.

"?But at the end of the day, like I try to do with all my teams, you could see this team is empowered right now. It's their team. It's not my team.''

Harrison agreed.

"Before, I think (Calipari) was coaching emotion and he was coaching energy. Now he's just teaching us. And I think that we have our own emotion and bring our own energy to the game and coach doesn't have to force that in us anymore.''

As they head to Texas, Kentucky makes history, becoming the first team with five freshmen starters to reach the Final Four since Michigan's Fab Five did it in March of 1992.

For months now, Calipari has been waiting for his kids to grow up. He's been waiting for them to toss aside their personal agendas and get lost in the team and its mission. He started to see it late in the season, especially in the SEC tournament, when Kentucky lost to Florida, ranked No. 1 in the country, by just one point.

Then came the NCAA tournament.

Where youth was served.

The Wildcats, dismissed so often this season as a disjointed collection of underachieving McDonald's All American talents, have grown up, grown together.

In the end, it came down to the biggest three ball of them all, one of the biggest shots ever in NCAA basketball history - certainly one of the biggest in Kentucky history. Again, look at the photo. Look at how hotly contested that shot was. And still, it went in.

Don't be surprised, not even a little bit, when these callow Cats cut down the nets in North Texas.

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Kravitz Column: Kentucky can win it all

As Aaron Harrison backpedaled down the court after The Shot ? or so it will be called in Lexington from now through eternity ? he flashed a wry, self-satisfied smile. It was a smile that said, 'What?